Artificial body member



Feb. 26; 1924.;

C. M. SURRY ARTIfICIAL son! MEMBER Filed Oct. 26.

1922 a Sheets-Sheet 1 WITNESSES A TTOR/VEYS (1. M. SURRY ARTIFICIAL BODY MEMBER Filed Oct. 26. 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 WI TNSSES wmw A TTOR/VEVS Patented Feb, 25, 1924;,

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Application filed October 26, 1822. Serial No. 597,127.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, "Grain Mnnnerrn Sonar, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Haileyville, in the county of Pittsburg and State of Oklahoma, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Artificial Body Members, of which the following is a specification..

This invention relates in general to an improvement in artificial body members and more particularly to an improvement in artificial arms and hands.

The object of the invention is to provide an improvement of this character wherein the arm and hand are capable of performing all of the important functions of the human arm and hand and which is at the same time of simple and durable construction, reliable in operation, easy andcom paratively inexpensive to manufacture and which closely approximates the appearance of the human hand and arm.

Another object is to provide an improvement of this character wherein the finger members of the hand are so constructed and organized as to be capable of closing around an irregular object with each finger member exerting an individual grip upon the object, the operating means for the finger members being such as to cause them to grip theobject to be handled with the desired degree of force and to maintain this grip upon the object without necessitating a continuous strain upon the person using the: invention, the fingers being at the same time readily released and disengaged from the object handled.

. Another object is to provide an improve ment of this character wherein not only the finger members but the thumb members will positively open and close so as to facilitate the gripping and handling of objects of various sizes and contour.

Other objects and advantages of the invention reside in certain novel features of the construction, combination and arrangement of parts which will be hereinafter more fully described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, refer ence being had to the accompanying draw- 7 ings forming part of this specification and in which:

Figure 1 is a view, showing the interior of the hand and fingers and the associated portions of the arm;

Figure 2 is a View in elevation of the in side or palm of the hand, the thumb being broken away and the interior structure thereof being shown for the sake of illustration;

Figure 3 is a similar view of the outside or back of the hand;

Figure 4 is a detailed View, partly in section and partly in elevation illustrating the construction of the finger members;

Figure 5 is a perspective view, illustrating ghe general construction of the body mem- Figure 6 is a detail view in elevation, illustrating one end of one of the sectionsof a finger; and

Figures 7 8 and 9 are detail views.

Figure 10 is a fragmentary detail perspective view of the one way clutch arrange ment.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 10 designates generally the casing or artificial arm proper which is secured upon the upper arm or to the body of the wearer in any approved manner and is connected to the artificial hand member 12 by a wrist portion 13. A stump jacket 15 is laced on the stump of the wearer and is arranged within the artificial arm casing 10. A stump plate 16 is rigidly connected with the stump jacket. Obviously the wearer may, by turning the stump in either direction turn the stump jacket and stump plate in either direction and such movement is independent of and relative to the artificial arm member and the artificial hand member. This movement is taken from the stump plate and is utilized to actuate or effect the opening and closing of the finger members and the thumb members of the artificial hand as will hereinafter more fully appear.

The artificial hand member proper is of course formed and shaped to approximate the appearance of the human hand and includes finger members 20 corresponding to the fingers of the human hand and a thumb member 21 corresponding to the thumb of the human hand.

The finger members 20 while varying in shape and size as in the human hand are of substantially identical construction so a common description will serve for all.

. clearly shown in Figure 4, each finger member includes a number of shell like sections 22 at greater length on the outer side of the finger members than on the inner side so that the ends of the shell like sections are inclined, as at 23, leaving the requisite clearance to permit of movement between the sections. The sections22 are hinged to each other or jointed, as at 24. Thus the sections of the finger members may be moved toward each other as inclosing the hand or they may be moved away iErom each other to open the hand. Each section of each finger member, except the uppermost section has fixed thereto a toothed plate or-raclr 25, and. each section except the innermost has pivotally mounted thereon a pawl26, the pawl of one section being urged into engagement. with the toothed plate or rack-25 of the adjacent section by means of a retractile coil spring 27. The pawls 26 and toothed plates 25 serve to releasably hold the sections of each finger member in any position to which they are adjusted.

The thumb member 21 includes a fixed section 28 and a swinging section 29 hingedly connected, as at 30, with the fixed section, the sections 28 and 29 being of shell like construction-and the section 29 tapering oil as at 29 to afford the requisite clearance for its inwardly swinging movement. The swinging section 29 is releasably held in adjusted position with respect to the fixed section 28 by means oit' a toothed plate '31 secured uponthe fixed section 28 and a pivoted pawl 32 mounted upon the swinging section 29 and urged into engagement with the toothed plate 31 by a retractilecoil As h s. been. Pr v o y d a d h ngers are opened and closedby a turning of the stump ineither direction. The means for closing the fingers comprises a main rod, designated generally at .35 and including a section 36 rigidly secured at one end to the stump plate 16 and connected at its other vend to a section 37 by means of a one clutchconnection 38 the advantage of which will be presently understood. The section 3.7 of the main rod is coupled .to the third section 3.9 by a universed coupling e0 arranged in the region of the wrist portion so that the provision of the main rod does not impair the flexibility of the hand. The outer end of the section 39 of the main'rod carries a lug 41, which se ves a a an and lCh is slidably and pivotallyconnected to one end of alink 42, theother end of .whichis connected to one arm of a bell crank lever 43 pivoted as at M to a frame 45 and having its other arm 46 pivotally connected, as at 47, to one end of aconnecting rod 48. The link42, bell crank $3 and connecting rod 48 constitute motion transmission mechanism betwe n the m n d en s cr s ea t e cross .liead heirs piv ta y onnected to" the" end of'the connecting rod the finger members there being rod for each finger member, as shown in through the shell like sections making up one closing the drawings. These closing rods also vary in size, but are of substantially identical construction and each comprises a number of sections 56 pivotally connected to each other. The outermost section of each closing rod is connected with the outermost section of each finger. member and aspring connection '57 serves to couple the innermost section of the closing rod with the cross head. As shown in Figure 1 there are four closing rods and four spring connections so that the cross head '50 is adapted to effect closing of all of the fingers. The in wardly swinging section of the thumb member is also closed from the croSS head 50, and for this purpose an arm 60 extends rearwardly from the cross head and is pivotally connected to one arm of a hell crank 61, the other arm of which is connected to the offset end of one of the sections 62 ot theclosing rod 63, the closing rod 63 including a second section 641' which is pivis connected at its other end to the hand member. This spring tends to urge the parts to, such position as to dispose the finger members and the thumb member open.

YVhen the stump is turned to the right,-

the section36 of the main rod is'also turned to the right, consequently, the other sections of the main rod are turned to the right since the one way clutch arrangement 38 transmits this motion to these other sections.

Thisrotary movement of themain rod is transmitted through the crank lug il, link 4-2, bell crank 43 and connecting rod 4L8 to the cross headf l) and moves this cross head rearwardlya The movement of the cross head is transmitted to the closing rods through the spring connections 57 and the closing rods causing the fingers to be drawn inwardly towardthe palm of the hand and across the fingers about the object to be grasped. It is to be noted that all of the fingers are capableo f coming into firm grippingengagement with the object to be hail dled andthis irrespective of thexirregularities in the contour of the object since the spring connections 57 compensate for these irregularities. It isobvious that the spring connections 57 compensate for these irregularities by virtue of the fact that they-may be comp s w en h fing m mbers 1 gage the object beingv handled and their compression permits the cross head to move rearwardly and exert a pull on the closing rods which have not yet engaged the objeot in order to bring such closing rods nto gripping engagement with the object. After the finger members have come 1nto gripping engagement with the work they are held in this position by the itCtlOILOf the pawls 26 which engage the toothed plates 25 to effect this purpose. Moreover it is not necessary that the stump of the arm be maintained in the twisted or turned position but the wearer may return the stump to its normal position, the one-wa vclutch arrangement 38 permitting th1s and the pawls 26 and toothed plates 25 holding the fingers in engagement.

As the cross head 50 is moved rearwardly by the turning of the stump to close the fingers in the manner described, the swinging section of the thumb is also swung 1nwardly since the rearward movement of the cross head turns the bell crank 61 and exerts pull upon the closing rod 62which is efiiective to move the inwardly swinging sectlon toward the head.

In order to provide for releasing the fingers and the thumb and allow the spring 65 to come into action and disengage them from the object being handled a crank pin 7 O is eccentrically fixed to the stump plate 16 and is formed with an eye 7 at its outer end to which one end of a main operating cord 71 is fixed. The main operating cord 71 is trained over pulleys or guard sheaves 7 2 and is connected by branch cords 73 to the pawls 26, as shown in Figures 1 and 4. A branch cord 74 is also connected to the main cord 71 and leads to the pawl 32 of the thumb. The arrangement is such that when the stump is turned to the left the pull will be exerted upon the main operating cord 71 which will be transmitted to the auxiliary or branch operating cords to pull or swing the pawls 26 and 32 away fromthe toothed plates 25 and 31, respectively, thereby releasing the sections of the finger and thumb members and permitting the spring 65 to swing the sections of the finger members and the section of the thumb member from a closed to an open position.

The wrist portion 13 of the hand is joint ed, as at 13 and includes at its joint a coil spring 80 associated with the coupled sec tion of the joint by clamps 81. This coil spring together with the universal couplin 35 of the main rod give to the wrist limited resilient flexibility.

It is obvious that the hand and-arm possessing as it does the capacity for various movements and adjustments enables the wearer to grasp and handle objects of various sizes and contours and closely approximating in appearance and function the human hand.

A removable plate or bar 85 is provided in the arm casing and is detachably secured to the arm casing byscrews 86. This removable plate is located adjacent the one way clutch connection which is itself demountable or detachable so that when the plate 85 is removed access may be had to this connection 35. pin is removed the reduced extension 38 of the section 38 may be removed from the socket or axial bore 3'7 of the section and adapted to be turned relative to the arm. casing and the hand member, means for adjusting and closing the finger members from said stump jacket including amain rod connected to this stump jacket and comprising sections, a certain of said sections being coupled together by a one way clutch arrangement and releasable means for holding the finger members in adjusted position.

2. In an artificial body member, an arm casing, a hand member connected to the arm casing and having finger members comprising a plurality of pivotally connected and shell like sections, a stump jacket adapted to be connected with the stump, a stump plate connected with the stump jacket, a main rod connected with the stump plate, a closing rod for each finger member including a plurality of pivotally connected sections, a cross head, a spring connection between each closing rod and the cross head, motion transmission means between the main rod and the cross head, means for releasably maintaining the sections of the fingermembers in adjusted position and including toothed plates carried by certain of the sections of the finger members and pivoted pawls carried by the other of said sections and engageable with the toothed plates and springs for urging said pawls in engagement with said toothed plates, and means for disengaging all of said pawls from their plates including a crank pin fixed to the stump plate, a main operating cord connected with the crank pin, and auxiliary cords leading from} the main operating cord to the pivoted paw s.

3. In an artificial body member, a hand member having movable finger members and means for moving said finger members to closed position including a cross head, clos ing rods connected to the finger members and spring connections between the closing rods and the cross head.

4. In an artificial body member, a hand Then when the cotter I section of its finger member, and a spring connection between the inner end of each closing rod and the cross head.

5. In an art1fic1al body member, an arm casing, a hand member connected to the arm casing and having finger members comprising a plurality of pivotally connectedjand shell like sections and a thumb member including a swinging section, a stump jacket adapted to :be connected with the stump, a stump plate connected with the stump jacket, a main rod connected with the stump plate, a closing rod for each finger member includingaplurality of pivotally connected sections, a cross head, a spring connection between each closing rod and the cross head,

a closing rod for the swinging section of the thumb, motion transmission means between finger members mean-re the closing rod of the thumb and the cross head, motion'transmission means between the main rod and the cross head, means for releasably maintaining the sections of the of the sections of the finger members and pivoted pawls carried by the other of said sections and engageable with the toothed plates and for releasably maintainingthe swinging sections of the thumb member-in adjusted posi tion including a toothed plate, a: pivoted pawl and a spring for urging the pawl intoengagement with means for disengaging all of said pawls from their plates including a crank pin fixed to the stump plate, a main operating cord connected With the crank pin, and auxiliary cords leading from the main operating cord to the pivoted pawls.

' CYRIL MEREDITH SURE-Y.

in adjusted position and ineluding toothed plates carried by certain the toothed plate, and a spring for urging said pawls 1n engagement with said toothed plates, means 1-: 

